The act of historical Verstehen draws on, and arises from, the capacity for empathic understanding by means of which we relate to our neighbors: “The understanding of Saint Paul and Louis XIV is essentially the same as is the understanding of a personal acquaintance.” Practical life depends, moreover, on the selective reconstruction of past events in relation to their implications for present circumstances.

DEFINE: Defines the philosophical concept of Verstehen — historical comprehension as empathic reconstruction rather than detached analysis.

Georg Simmel, on individuality and social…, loc. 41